Serum Thyroid Stimulating Hormone Levels Are Associated with the Presence of Coronary Atherosclerosis in Healthy Postmenopausal Women

OBJECTIVES: Menopause is a natural aging process causing estrogen deficiency, accelerating atherogenic processes including dyslipidemia. Prevalence of thyroid dysfunction is also high in postmenopausal women, and it is known to elevate the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Therefore, we are to study on the associations in between serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and prevalence of CVD in postmenopausal women who have normal thyroid function. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of 247 Korean postmenopausal women who visited the health promotion center from January, 2007 to December, 2009. Postmenopausal women with normal serum TSH were included in the study. Coronary atherosclerosis was assessed by 64-row multidetector computed tomography. RESULTS: In multiple linear regression analysis, serum TSH was associated with serum triglyceride (TG) (β = 0.146, P = 0.023). In multiple logistic regression analysis, increasing age and serum TSH were associated with an increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis in euthyroid postmenopausal women (odds ratio [OR] = 1.107 [1.024-1.197], P = 0.011 and OR = 1.303 [1.024-1.658], P = 0.031, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: It revealed that significant predictor of serum TSH was serum TG, and increasing age and TSH were found to have associations with an increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis in euthyroid postmenopausal women. Screening and assessing risks for CVD in healthy postmenopausal women would be helpful before atherosclerosis develops.